Tokyo:
The first 3 points are all things we did in odaiba. For specifics on how to get to each place google works really well. and you might want to google other things to do there cos it is about an hr away from Akiharbara area.
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| Giant Gundam in front of Diver City |
1. Big Gundam and Gundam Cafe are in Odaiba. Catch the JR to Shinbashi (yamanote line) and change to the Odaiba island monorail. I think the stop to get off is Daiba station. You should be able to see the big Gundam from the monorail. Its right in front of a big shopping center called Diver city Tokyo. The light show is at 7.30pm and 8.30 pm weekdays, 7.30 and 8.15 weekends.
Diver City is quite big so you can do heaps of shopping here.
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| Open 2 wheeler at Megaweb |
2. Mega web: The toyota showroom where you can see toyotas technology and test drive cars. Theres a booking system and you may or may not need your international drivers license to be able to participate. So check out the details beforehand if you think you might want to drive any of the cars.
3. Joypolis an amusement park/ arcade. Ken and I went here only for the Intial D cars. Theres a few other interactive games but only the halfpipe game and the jet shooting game looked interesting. Theres an all day pass you can buy for unlimited rides and if you go later at night theres a cheaper rate.
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| Initial D game at Joypolis |
4. Remm Akihabara: We stayed here for the week we were in tokyo. It was about $150 per night. The room was small ish but really well set out and functional. Theres also an awesome massage chair that was really cool.
The best thing about staying at the Remm was location! The station is right next to the hotel and on the other side of the station is a 7 story yodobashi. The station is on the yamanote line and chuo lines.
Ken also checked out a hotel called the Washington hotel akiharbara. Its accross the street from the Remm. He chose Remm because its newer and the rooms didnt look as nice.
5. Main tokyo suburbs:
Akihabara: Heaps of models and figures and Tech. Look around before you buy everything, prices vary a bit for the same item and chances are you'll see it in another store. If you plan to do electronic shopping theres a website that lists the best prices around akihabara (kakaku.com). And if you shop at yodobashi or softmap we have loyalty cards that you can borrow, you get 10% (@yodobashi, 1% at softmap) of the purchase price as points and you can redeem it for other items. Great if you plan on getting any big ticket items.
Don Quijoto is akihabara is a 5 storey variety store. Its where you can get the theme onesies, funny hats in the shape of taiyakis or takoyaki and lots of snacks. Its a franschise so we also went to one in osaka.
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| takeshita street in harajuku |
Ginza: Sony and panasonic flagship stores are there. Its the more posh areas for shopping.
Harajuku: not as many harajuku girls here anymore but the park is nice and there are still lots of people there performing (drums, dj painter, old people dancing to Elvis music etc). Theres also a main shopping strip in harajuku and home to many crepe places. The street is on the opposite side of the station from the park. cross the street and head left. just follow the crowds.
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| Random dj painter in the park @ harajuku |
Shinjuku: Mainly fashion and shopping. Heaps of restaurants that looked interesting.
Shibuya: This is where the huge intersection is that you see in movies. Its on the corner just as you come out of the station.
6. Ghibli Museum: You can get tickets from JTB in townhall its about $15pp. Just look them up and fill in the online order sheet, they'll have tickets for you in a few days to pick up. you can also order your JR pass from them.
Nice place to visit if you're into the ghibi art and movies. Gift shop there sucks though so if you only want to go there for the merchandise then just look for a ghibli store in the main suburbs somewhere. The museum is in Mitaka about 40 mins away from akihabara.
Kyoto:
7. Contact the Good Samaritan Club: you can fill in a registration form on their website and nominate what days you would like to have a guide. Its free, you just shout them to lunch and pay for their ticket into the temples. They have a guide pass for some of the temples but not all of them. We had three days with them and all three of them were really fun and nice to hang out with for the day.
The mochi at the stalls around the temples are yum make sure you try the free samples. Kiyomizudera is the temple at the top of the hill, its surrounded but the old style city, It's one of the nicest areas. They'll probably take you there but if not you should ask them to take you its a nice area.
8. Melon Pan!!! ok this is actually the hokkaido melon pan but we found it first in Kyoto. Its the only melon pan that has the melon filling. It so delicious we had it every time we saw it! its the one with the smooth green top and only the one in Kyoto had the nice smooth rockmelon filling. The ones in tokyo had a different kind of melon filling and whipped cream. The kyoto one was better.
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| Hokkaido Melon pan!! *Drooooooools* |
9. Shinkyugoku and Ninja Restaurant: This is just a fun ninja themed restaurant you might want to try. It's on the main shopping strip on Kyoto called Shinkyogoku street. There is a big department store across the street and street main shopping strips. Two of them are shops for clothes and souviners and one of the strips is all food.
The ninja restaurant is off one of these strips. You should try the maze after you have dinner. It's not hard just a bit of fun.
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More info:
I came across this website that has all the clubs that offer tours in different areas. http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/arrange/travel/guide/list_volunteerGuides_a-n.html
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